Cable Pull Through
The cable pull-through is a hip hinge done facing away from a low pulley, pulling a rope through your legs as you drive your hips forward to stand tall. It works the glutes most, with the hamstrings and adductors assisting, and is often used to practise the hip hinge.
Also called: Pull Through, Rope Pull-Through, Cable Hip Hinge, Standing Cable Pull-Through · Equipment: cable · Pattern: hinge
Step by step
- Attach a rope to the lowest pulley. Stand facing away from the machine, reach between your legs and grip the rope ends with both hands, palms facing each other.
- Walk forward until the cable is taut and the stack lifts. Set your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart with a soft bend in your knees.
- Brace your trunk and set a long, neutral spine with your chest up. Let your arms hang straight between your thighs.
- Push your hips straight back towards the machine, letting your torso tip forward as one unit while the rope travels back between your legs. Keep the knee bend fixed.
- Go down until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings, or until your back is about to round.
- Drive your hips forward through the rope to stand tall, squeezing your glutes hard at the top without leaning back.
- After the last rep, walk back towards the machine to set the stack down before letting go of the rope.
- Hips back to the wall behind you
- Soft knees, fixed angle
- Long spine, chest proud
- Drive your hips through the rope
- Squeeze your glutes and stand tall
- Arms hang like hooks
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Gluteus maximus | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head) | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: semitendinosus | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: semimembranosus | Prime mover | C |
| Adductors | Secondary | C |
| Erector spinae | Stabiliser | C |
| Rectus abdominis | Stabiliser | D |
| Obliques (internal/external) | Stabiliser | D |
| Quadriceps | Dynamic stabiliser | D |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Squatting it
Fix: Push your hips back and keep the same soft knee bend throughout.
Back rounding in the hinge
Fix: Hinge only as far as your back stays neutral, and use a lighter weight.
Weight too heavy or standing too far out
Fix: Use a weight you can hold at the top without being pulled back.
Leaning back at the top
Fix: Finish tall with your ribs down and your glutes squeezed.
Pulling with the arms
Fix: Keep your arms straight and let your hips move the rope.
Rushing the hinge
Fix: Push your hips back slowly and let the cable draw you into the stretch.
What the research says
Rehab & prehab · first choicePowerMuscle growthGeneral fitnessSport performanceEndurance
- Glute growth — A 9-week trial found hip thrust training, which loads the hips in a similar horizontal direction, produced glute growth similar to back squats, while the squats grew the adductors more. There is no training study of the pull-through itself.
- Muscle activity — An EMG study found the barbell hip thrust produced greater glute activity than the back squat at matched loads. The pull-through shares its horizontal line of resistance but has not been measured directly.
- Hamstrings — A leg-curl trial found training the hamstrings at longer muscle lengths produced more growth. Hinges that load the bottom of the range harder, such as the Romanian deadlift, are commonly used for hamstring growth.
- Rep ranges and effort — Research finds muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are taken close to failure, with a flattening return as sets approach failure.
- Uses — A common approach is 2 sets of 12–15 as a hinge warm-up before heavier lifts, or 3–4 sets of 12–20 as a glute accessory. There is no research on pull-through dosing.
Swap it mid-workout
- Clean Pull
- Conventional Deadlift
- Deficit Deadlift
- Dumbbell Deadlift
- Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
- Romanian Deadlift
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the cable pull through in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.